Vitalij Maceljuch: Man crushed to death inside rubbish truck after climbing into bin in Chester, Cheshire

A man was crushed to death in a rubbish truck after a bin he was inside was emptied in a routine collection.

An inquest was launched into the death of Vitalij Maceljuch, 36, after his body was found discarded at a recycling depot in Alltami, close to Mold, Flintshire on May 10, 2024.

Early that morning, Mr Maceljuch was captured on CCTV footage rifling through a large recycling bin full of cardboard that was located behind a showroom called Wren’s Kitchen in Chester.

Ruthin Coroner’s Court heard that it was likely the man climbed into the bin, though CCTV footage did not show this occurring.

Later that day, the recycling was collected by a Biffa truck driven by Richard Connolly, who told a health and safety board that he had looked inside the bin and called out to make sure no one was hidden inside.

The inquest was told he shook the bin and then loaded it onto the trucks forks before tipping its contents inside, the BBC reported.

Mr Connolly did not see Mr Macelijuch fall inside the waste compartment, but a review of the truck’s CCTV footage shows the body falling in.

David Lewis, the assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, found that Mr Macelijuch’s injuries, including severe damage to his neck and head, were likely to have been caused by the crushing motion of the truck. He concluded the death was a misadventure.

His body was dropped from the truck into the Thorncliffe yard in Alltami, and was later pushed into a pile by another truck.

A claw machine scooped up his body from the pile and moved it to a conveyor belt where shocked staff, who initially thought it was a mannequin, called North Wales Police.

Wren Kitchen had signs up where the bin was, which warned people not to climb inside because of a risk to personal safety and danger of death.

The inquest concluded that no one from any of the involved sites, including the truck driver and Wren Kitchen owners, had breached any health and safety legislation.

At the time of his death Mr Macelijuch had cannabis and amphetamines in his blood.

Mr Lewis said the presence of these drugs in his system may have caused a “lack of awareness of his surroundings”.

“Misadventure is defined as when actions which were intentional had unintended consequences, such as Mr Maceljuch placing himself into the bin without intending to end his life or the actions of the lorry driver who picked up the bin without appreciating that anyone was inside,” he said.

He went on to offer his condolences to the man’s family.